CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION The collaborative PBL research group will be structured into teams based on specific research interests that are relevant across geographic boundaries. Each team will have a lead, who will be responsible for coordinating and delegating activities, and presenting at the main conference. Lead people will facilitate discussions and contributions from attendees so that it builds on the advance work of the leads and organizers. The formation of teams has already begun, based on the data submitted through the participation application. Among those who have agreed to participate, we have asked certain individuals (see Appendix D) to take the lead facilitating discussions and collecting resources around specific content areas (e.g., pre-service education, teacher perceptions and motivation, student reactions to PBL, PBL in informal learning, scaling up PBL, etc.). We expect several more, including one focused on equity of PBL use and impacts for at-risk students.
The main conference, which will be held immediately prior to AERA 2013, will begin with an evening reception and will continue with a full day of presentations and working sessions. The presentations by leads will be brief and structured around pre-determined topics to provide a summary of their work and to highlight how this work fits into the online space we are creating and where more work is needed. Lunch will include time for networking and signing up for online account access, for those who have not yet done so. The afternoon will be allocated for teams to work through pre-determined issues, which they will share with the larger group. A reporter will take notes during large group sharing, will help document group work, and help prepare the final report with the organizers. Agenda 8:00-9:00 Light breakfast, introductions & icebreaker. 9:00-12:00 Presentations by team leads with breaks for reflection. 12:00-1:00 Networking and lunch in groups to work on online spaces. 1:00 - 2:30. Working session 1. 2:30 - 4:00 Working session 2. 4:00 - 5:30 Working session 3. 5:30 - 6:00 Debrief and reflections 6:00 - 8:00 Dinner (optional). Working sessions (WS) will be done in teams. WS1-exploring differences in definitions of PBL and agreeing on over-arching research priorities; WS2-developing a list key methodological issues to be addressed with identification of strategies to consider or recommendations. WS3 - planning next steps and obtaining commitments for continued work (e.g., developing products and publications, establishing new collaborative projects, exploring continued funding possibilities and a vision for a PBL in K12 Dissertation Award). Local Meetings Prior to the main conference event and the large meeting in Indiana there will be several small local gatherings (with minimal expenses). We will spend up to $500 offering a "social incentive" (Dillman, 2000) of $50-$100 for convening researchers who are not already collaborating, i.e., from at least two different research projects or teams. Local participants will be instructed to use their time to contribute to the online space and to develop ideas for future collaboration. Local leads will set up and facilitate the meeting, helping to orient the participants to the main topic areas and showing participants how to register for the site and upload resources. These meetings are important because opportunities for local collaboration are rarely realized when cross-institution and cross-discipline sharing has not been explicitly funded. As noted by one of our leads Peg Ertmer, “Nobody finds time in their schedules to meet and talk about these things. This will provide the opportunity to set aside time to actually pull people together who are doing similar things and can benefit from each others work.” Local meetings will include structured activities to produce products and resources that support the larger conference objectives. The benefit of getting people together to start working in advance of the larger meetings is well worth the minimal cost. Indiana Indiana is a hub for this project and will have the only other large meeting besides the one just before AERA. There are several major initiatives underway that have already provided professional development to over a 1000 teachers. In addition, Indiana has invested heavily in starting up New Tech Network schools that focus on PBL use, and there are several major research centers at universities with independent PBL-related research agendas. We have decided that Indianapolis is the most central location to host meetings and have secured the leadership of the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) at University of Indianapolis to help us arrange a hotel, a small reception the night before, and a meeting day that includes a light breakfast and lunch. In preparation for this meeting, institutional leads in Indiana will organize small planning sessions in Bloomington, Purdue, and Indianapolis to begin building the online space, preparing them to discuss their work using a common framework. We will share what we produce in Indiana online use what we learn to help shape the subsequent meeting at AERA. Expected Participant Contributions In order to be a formal presenter, participants will have to propose a 15-20 minute talk on a major topic. Because we anticipate having to limit the size of the April meeting and because we want to assure participants have an established record of quality and relevant research, attendees will have to submit an application to attend. The application will solicit ideas and materials that are needed for the online space. Once accepted to attend, all attendees (including non-presenters) will provide a 1-2 page summary of their research for the online site and for distribution. These will use a common format aligned to the goals of the conference such as: a) definition of PBL; b) key research topics; c) methods used and methodological challenges; d) key findings; and e) implications and next steps. Those who attend local meetings will have an opportunity to produce these products in advance of the conference. After the conference, these will be updated and combined into a report for distribution. Selected entries will be expanded into a book proposal and/or invited to submit articles to IJPBL. Most participants have already started contributing by completing our survey instrument that asks for lists of existing links and resources and interests (see Ravitz & English, 2012). Those who have completed the survey have expressed interest in working on topics across a wide range of subjects and grade levels--7 in all subjects and grades (including pre-service); 7 in secondary all subjects; 5 in math in all grades, 12 focused on science in various grades, 6 on secondary social studies; 3 STEM, and 2 elementary. Some have already offered to contribute specific products including data collection instruments (e.g., surveys, observation tools and protocols, rubrics, etc.), published papers, and examples of curricula and classroom tools. Research methods they will present include experimental, survey, qualitative methods, and mixed methods. After the conference participants will complete an evaluation survey indicating if the process was useful, how helpful the products will be and how their experiences will support or enhance continued work on PBL research and new collaborations. Dissemination of Results A number of dissemination vehicles will allow the results of the conference to be seen. Of the 48 who completed our initial survey, 26 have said they are “very interested” in shared publishing opportunities. Our plans for dissemination include -- a) A full report to AERA and potentially in the Interdisciplinary Journal for Problem Based Learning (IJPBL) followed by a strand of articles, (one or two per issue); b) a summary of the report on the BIE.ORG web site; c) a blog on Edutopia, which has a large PBL audience; d) a Twitter hashtag for researchers -- #pblresearch (in addition to using #pbl to reach practitioners, when appropriate); e) a book proposal; and f) a page on the SIG web site for K-12. Participants in the survey have also helped identify these organizations as potentially interested in helping to disseminate our findings: Edutopia; New Tech Network; High Tech High; Illinois Math and Science Academy; PBL Summer Institute at Ben Davis High School (Indiana); Association of Science Technology Centers; National Association of Research in Science Teaching; Computer Using Educators (CUE); International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE); American Association of Biology Teachers; iNACOL; SIG-IT; NCTM and SITE.
The collaborative PBL research group will be structured into teams based on specific research interests that are relevant across geographic boundaries. Each team will have a lead, who will be responsible for coordinating and delegating activities, and presenting at the main conference. Lead people will facilitate discussions and contributions from attendees so that it builds on the advance work of the leads and organizers. The formation of teams has already begun, based on the data submitted through the participation application. Among those who have agreed to participate, we have asked certain individuals (see Appendix D) to take the lead facilitating discussions and collecting resources around specific content areas (e.g., pre-service education, teacher perceptions and motivation, student reactions to PBL, PBL in informal learning, scaling up PBL, etc.). We expect several more, including one focused on equity of PBL use and impacts for at-risk students.
The main conference, which will be held immediately prior to AERA 2013, will begin with an evening reception and will continue with a full day of presentations and working sessions. The presentations by leads will be brief and structured around pre-determined topics to provide a summary of their work and to highlight how this work fits into the online space we are creating and where more work is needed. Lunch will include time for networking and signing up for online account access, for those who have not yet done so. The afternoon will be allocated for teams to work through pre-determined issues, which they will share with the larger group. A reporter will take notes during large group sharing, will help document group work, and help prepare the final report with the organizers.
Agenda 8:00-9:00 Light breakfast, introductions & icebreaker. 9:00-12:00 Presentations by team leads with breaks for reflection. 12:00-1:00 Networking and lunch in groups to work on online spaces. 1:00 - 2:30. Working session 1. 2:30 - 4:00 Working session 2. 4:00 - 5:30 Working session 3. 5:30 - 6:00 Debrief and reflections 6:00 - 8:00 Dinner (optional). Working sessions (WS) will be done in teams. WS1-exploring differences in definitions of PBL and agreeing on over-arching research priorities; WS2-developing a list key methodological issues to be addressed with identification of strategies to consider or recommendations. WS3 - planning next steps and obtaining commitments for continued work (e.g., developing products and publications, establishing new collaborative projects, exploring continued funding possibilities and a vision for a PBL in K12 Dissertation Award).
Local Meetings Prior to the main conference event and the large meeting in Indiana there will be several small local gatherings (with minimal expenses). We will spend up to $500 offering a "social incentive" (Dillman, 2000) of $50-$100 for convening researchers who are not already collaborating, i.e., from at least two different research projects or teams. Local participants will be instructed to use their time to contribute to the online space and to develop ideas for future collaboration. Local leads will set up and facilitate the meeting, helping to orient the participants to the main topic areas and showing participants how to register for the site and upload resources. These meetings are important because opportunities for local collaboration are rarely realized when cross-institution and cross-discipline sharing has not been explicitly funded. As noted by one of our leads Peg Ertmer, “Nobody finds time in their schedules to meet and talk about these things. This will provide the opportunity to set aside time to actually pull people together who are doing similar things and can benefit from each others work.” Local meetings will include structured activities to produce products and resources that support the larger conference objectives. The benefit of getting people together to start working in advance of the larger meetings is well worth the minimal cost.
Indiana Indiana is a hub for this project and will have the only other large meeting besides the one just before AERA. There are several major initiatives underway that have already provided professional development to over a 1000 teachers. In addition, Indiana has invested heavily in starting up New Tech Network schools that focus on PBL use, and there are several major research centers at universities with independent PBL-related research agendas. We have decided that Indianapolis is the most central location to host meetings and have secured the leadership of the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) at University of Indianapolis to help us arrange a hotel, a small reception the night before, and a meeting day that includes a light breakfast and lunch. In preparation for this meeting, institutional leads in Indiana will organize small planning sessions in Bloomington, Purdue, and Indianapolis to begin building the online space, preparing them to discuss their work using a common framework. We will share what we produce in Indiana online use what we learn to help shape the subsequent meeting at AERA.
Expected Participant Contributions In order to be a formal presenter, participants will have to propose a 15-20 minute talk on a major topic. Because we anticipate having to limit the size of the April meeting and because we want to assure participants have an established record of quality and relevant research, attendees will have to submit an application to attend. The application will solicit ideas and materials that are needed for the online space. Once accepted to attend, all attendees (including non-presenters) will provide a 1-2 page summary of their research for the online site and for distribution. These will use a common format aligned to the goals of the conference such as: a) definition of PBL; b) key research topics; c) methods used and methodological challenges; d) key findings; and e) implications and next steps. Those who attend local meetings will have an opportunity to produce these products in advance of the conference. After the conference, these will be updated and combined into a report for distribution. Selected entries will be expanded into a book proposal and/or invited to submit articles to IJPBL.
Most participants have already started contributing by completing our survey instrument that asks for lists of existing links and resources and interests (see Ravitz & English, 2012). Those who have completed the survey have expressed interest in working on topics across a wide range of subjects and grade levels--7 in all subjects and grades (including pre-service); 7 in secondary all subjects; 5 in math in all grades, 12 focused on science in various grades, 6 on secondary social studies; 3 STEM, and 2 elementary. Some have already offered to contribute specific products including data collection instruments (e.g., surveys, observation tools and protocols, rubrics, etc.), published papers, and examples of curricula and classroom tools. Research methods they will present include experimental, survey, qualitative methods, and mixed methods. After the conference participants will complete an evaluation survey indicating if the process was useful, how helpful the products will be and how their experiences will support or enhance continued work on PBL research and new collaborations.
Dissemination of Results A number of dissemination vehicles will allow the results of the conference to be seen. Of the 48 who completed our initial survey, 26 have said they are “very interested” in shared publishing opportunities. Our plans for dissemination include -- a) A full report to AERA and potentially in the Interdisciplinary Journal for Problem Based Learning (IJPBL) followed by a strand of articles, (one or two per issue); b) a summary of the report on the BIE.ORG web site; c) a blog on Edutopia, which has a large PBL audience; d) a Twitter hashtag for researchers -- #pblresearch (in addition to using #pbl to reach practitioners, when appropriate); e) a book proposal; and f) a page on the SIG web site for K-12. Participants in the survey have also helped identify these organizations as potentially interested in helping to disseminate our findings: Edutopia; New Tech Network; High Tech High; Illinois Math and Science Academy; PBL Summer Institute at Ben Davis High School (Indiana); Association of Science Technology Centers; National Association of Research in Science Teaching; Computer Using Educators (CUE); International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE); American Association of Biology Teachers; iNACOL; SIG-IT; NCTM and SITE.